The Brazilian National Team trained on Sunday (30) on the auxiliary field of Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California. Right next door, the main stadium of the prestigious university holds affective memories of the campaign to conquer the tetracampionato, which will complete 30 years this month. It was there that the team led by Carlos Alberto Parreira played almost half of the matches in Brazil’s victorious campaign at the 1994 World Cup, held in the United States.
There were three wins at the Stanford stadium. Brazil beat Russia 2-0 in the first round, won against Cameroon 3-0 in the second round, and defeated the United States 1-0 in the round of 16, in a dramatic match. The game against the hosts was on the day of the United States’ independence and Brazil played with only ten athletes after the sending off of Leonardo early in the first half.
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An undisputed starter for the champion team and a member of the current coaching staff, Taffarel took advantage of the end of training and traveled back in time. With the CBF TV team, the national team’s goalkeeper coach returned to the grass that went down in the memory of the Brazilian fans.
“The cool thing now is to look back and know that there is a story. This is the coolest thing of all. You can think that one day you were here, that you marked this place, with the matches we played, the group that was there, a shirt today that we continue to wear, but not on the field, off the field,” Taffarel said as he walked across the stadium field after jumping the fence.
“It’s very good to be serving the National Team. So it’s rewarding to look and say, wow, today it’s Alisson, Bento, Rafael (the three goalkeepers at the Copa América). And I was here one day, right? So I felt that sense of duty fulfilled. That’s it, it’s more this feeling, that I had my opportunity,” he added.
At the beginning of the visit, Taffarel did not hide a certain strangeness with the stadium. He looked at the field and did not recognize it.
“I don’t remember much here. These structures seem new to me. I think it was renovated,” Taffarel said.
And the hero of the tetracampionato was right. The stadium was completely renovated in 2005. With a capacity of more than 80,000 fans, the old stadium, which had an athletics track around the pitch, was demolished. In its place, the University built a modern 50,000-seat arena.
“But I’m not much of a rememberer of game details. It’s very difficult for me to remember game by game. I see a lot of former teammates describing the plays. I’m always surprised. How does this guy remember all of this? It’s not the same stadium, but it’s always good to remember this moment,” the gaúcho born in Santa Rosa said as he left the stadium.
Taffarel continues to have high prestige with the Brazilian fans. After the visit to the stadium, he met the fans and spent more than 20 minutes signing autographs.
